Ariel the sea demon princess
by SekaiSeki
Summary: A new mysterious stranger joins the StrawHats on their journey into the New world. Ariel is a powerful, strong-willed, compassionate and sweet girl of 20. With a horrid past full of loss and death will she finally be able to find a place she belongs with the StrawHats? or with someone else? Journey together with her as she slowly reveals her past, her powers and her heritage.
1. Ariel's Intro Chapter 1

The new world was vast and unpredictable yet this day the sea was wonderfully calm and the Sunny Go soared gracefully on the ocean waves, the StrawHats were all taking it easy in their own ways. Nami was busy soaking up the sun as usual on the front deck wearing one of her usual cute bikinis making Sanji drool while he brought her a nice iced glass of tangerine juice.

"here you go Nami-swwwaaannn!" bending down elegantly, silver platter in hand, with a broad smile on his face and his cigarette making heart shapes out of smoke.

"thank you Sanji-kun" she replied while taking the refreshing glass without being phased at all by his gentlemen-like charm. She takes a swift sip; her face momentarily lights up with delight.

"it's delicious as usual Sanji-kun" giving him a nice smile.

Sanji heart does a triple back flip and propels out his chest giddy with joy as he swoons all over Nami.

"ahhhh you're very welcome Nami-swan fulfilling your every desire is the only thing I live for..I woul.."

"Sanji! I'm hungry I want some food…. Sanji! "

Luffy shouts poking his head out interrupting Sanji; he's seated in his favorite spot on the sunny go's mounted lion head up on the front of the ship monitoring the calm waters in front. Sanji turns distracted from Nami for a moment to respond to his beloved captain, with a very irritated expression. Upset that Luffy was rude enough to interrupt his conversation with his precious Nami.

" SHUT UP IDIOT! It's not even lunchtime yet, you'll have to wait like everyone else."

" ahhhh but Sanji I'm hungry now I want meat…Sanji meat!." Luffy continued to whine for his meat

" SHUT IT! I don't care." Sanji replied with another annoyed tone.

He begins to walk away from the discussion he knows he can't win with Luffy, heading back to the kitchen he passes Franky who's busy building another one of his fun and ingenious contraptions deep in thought and laughing to himself happy with his work so far, as Sanji keeps walking he heads across the grass lawn; sitting on the soft fresh grass, surrounded by small beakers full of different colored liquids, either bubbling or producing smoke is Usopp, messing around with chemicals finding new ways to make his sniping skills of better use with new projectiles. He interrupts his focus on his work momentarily to face Sanji as he starts walking up the stairs on the other side of the ship.

" hey, Sanji what are we having for lunch? I'm starving." He says rubbing his stomach while smiling.

" I don't know yet and WAIT! It isn't lunch time yet so stop bugging me." Sanji continued up the stairs in his annoyed state.

Usopp slightly scared puts his hands up defensively.

" eee! ok sorry, I asked."

And he turns his attention back to what he was working on, behind him little sweet Chopper is riding the swing under the tree on the left side of the lawn enjoying a big cloud of cotton candy, his favorite sweet.

" Usopp be careful not to hurt yourself"

Usopp turns leaving his work once more to face chopper and lifts his arm with his thumb indicating himself.

" hehehe don't worry I'm the brave warrior of the sea and a master of these chemicals there's no way I can hurt myself."

He begins to chuckle as he starts working again, chopper still not fully convinced knowing Usopp, he briefly stops swinging while keeping a wary expression.

" maybe I should go and get my medical kit if he does hurt himself?" while pondering on that thought he remembers he still has his cotton candy in hand and quickly discards whatever he was thinking " ah right after I finish my cotton candy" and he continues to eat and swing happily.

Meanwhile a delightful, and tranquil melody began to dance in the fresh cool breeze, it was Brook graceful as always playing the violin next to Robin who was quietly sitting at her little table reading another one of the books from the library, enjoying Brooks amazing music skills, while he enjoys the view of Robin reading peacefully, and he begins to chuckle his signature laugh.

" yo-ho-ho yo-ho-ho what a wonderful day right Robin-san?" Brook says leaning closer to robin.

" yes it is a beautiful sunny day."

And as usual, Brook tries his luck with his typical and daily question.

" Robin-san… may I see your panties?."

Robin slowly placed her book down gently on the small white table, her expression never changing still wearing a sweet smile, yet looks also quite serious, and scary, Brook slowly backing away from her as she brings her arms slightly crossed above her chest.

" No, you may not. Ever. Deux fleur."

Two of Robin's arms appear on Brooks body above his shoulder bones, he halts his playing when he understands what's going to happen next his face turns grim. Unsteadily he places his hands up trying to ask for forgiveness, but to no avail, Robin still smiled at him.

" R.r..r..oobin-san now just hold on it was a joke…a joke..i. didn't…mean..an" he said panicking.

" slap!"

And as soon as she said that the arms on Brook start to slap him across the face in an unbroken rhythm, until she decides he's had enough and by that time Brook is lying across the floor all beaten up with about three lumps sprouting from his black puffy afro, his completely bruised cheek bones are throbbing with pain.

" I'm sorry… ahhhh my cheeks sting..eh? even though I don't have cheeks because I'm made of bones yo-ho-ho yo-ho-ho"

He gets up as if unfazed and starts merrily playing again humming to the tune, Robin picks up her book and continues to read also unfazed as this is the usual routine in a normal day such as this.

Meanwhile, under the exquisite melody, there is a steady metal thumping sound emerging from the crow's nest. There Zoro is busy training his inconceivable fencing skills, holding some oversized barbells, one in his mouth, the other in his hands practicing standard fencing drills. Completely focused in his exercises switching from one to another he finally concludes his training with 1000 pushup on 1 finger, and elegantly exits the crow's nest full of sweat to get a good clear view of both the ocean and his friends, there seemed to be nothing coming from any side of the horizon, it really was a peaceful day.

Suddenly a small explosion erupted shattering the peace sounding like thunder. Everyone detached their attention from whatever they were doing to see what had caused the explosion, only to find poor Usopp charred and covered in soot with two small broken beakers in his hands frozen in his surprised state. Luffy is the only one to leave his post to see what happened and starts to laugh.

"Hahahahaha Usopp what happened, you look so weird hahaha how funny."

As usual, nothing ever upsets nor worries Luffy while Usopp starts to cough out little black clouds of smoke and falls over. Now unlike Luffy, Chopper is on his feet running towards Usopp entirely worried about him.

" ahhhh! Usopp are you ok! Doctor, he needs a doctor!"

"hehehe chopper you're the doctor." Says Luffy with a grin on his face.

" eh? ah! right, I'm the doctor…ahhhh I'll go get my medical kit in my room I'll be right back, hold on Usopp."

Luffy still chucks as Chopper rushes for his studio and everyone goes back to what they were doing. Yes, this is a normal peaceful day, but little do the straw hats know that ever since the run in to save Lilly's father Panz fry from the navy they've been carrying an extra passenger that seems to have roamed the ship as if lost in search for something, and little did Chopper know that he was going to be the first to meet this mysterious person, who has found themselves stuck in Choppers studio.


	2. Ariel is found Chapter 2

Chopper quickly slams the door of his studio open and rushes inside to gather rapidly the medical supplies he needs and heads for the door again until he stops abruptly just in front of it, slowly he turns his head and notices that there's something crouched in the corner at the end of the sick bed, his face goes white.

" what's that?….who is that? An enemy?…should I call for help?" The thought runs through his head, but he quickly discards it.

Slowly he placed is rucksack down and gradually made his way to the dark gray figure in the corner still being defensive he pokes his head around the bed ever so slightly; which for Chopper it means poking your entire body and hiding half your face. Only to find a person sitting on the floor hugging their knees and shivering, not sensing any danger Chopper emerges completely in front of the person, full of concern.

" um excuse me is everything alright?..why are you shivering are you cold or sick?." He asks full of concern.

The unknown person slowly lifts their head to reveal large aquamarine eyes filled with fright, yet steadily seeming to calm down even though the person's face was mostly covered with a black mask. Chopper is a little surprised wondering what this person was so frightened about when the person speaks.

" sniff. I'm fine, just got a little scared I heard thunder, I don't like thunder".

Slowly calming down, Chopper breathes a sigh of relief.

" sigh…oh thank goodness you're not sick…that thunder sound was just Usopp blowing up one of his experiments you don't have to worry" he says with a sweet smile on his face.

The person looks at Chopper embarrassed, and abruptly stands up taking Chopper a little by surprise and he backs away cautiously, the person then bows gratefully at Chopper. Another thing that takes him by surprise.

" thank you for making me feel better you're a really cool reindeer." He says regaining his posture.

" ah no it's nothing…don't think you'll flatter me idiot hehehe…wait... I'M NOT A RACCOON DOG!" Chopper replies irritated as always when people mistake him for a raccoon dog.

" I never said you're a raccoon dog you're clearly a reindeer? Aren't you?" Said the stranger tilting their head to the side, confused at the thought that he might have really called him a raccoon dog.

Chopper stops in his tracks and really looks at this strange person he has in front of him, it's the first time that he hasn't been called a raccoon dog but a reindeer, a wide smile spreads across his face.

" really, you think I look like a reindeer! You're the first one to ever call me a reindeer just at first glance…hahaha!, I'm so happy!" his eyes sparkle as he gets close to the stranger again.

He starts spinning around the room merrily giggling away, while the person still stands staring at him happily and joining in with their own laughter. Until Chopper halts again when the real question crosses his mind.. "who is this person!?". And he's defensive again.

" wait…who are you?... what do you want?. Why are you here?. Are you dangerous?." His bombardment of questions didn't seem to faze the stranger.

The stranger stops laughing and faces chopper a little confused.

" ah right!, sorry I didn't introduce myself and I'll answer your questions gladly but you don't have to be scared I'm not going to hurt you" he says reassuringly.

"how do I know you're not lying?" Chopper says backing away again.

".. well if I wanted to, don't you think I would have done that already?"

The stranger giggles tilting their head to one side waiting for choppers answer.

" mm yes I suppose…so who are you?" slowly starting to calm down, Chopper asks the question again.

" well, my name is Ariel it's nice to meet you ..ahh what's your name?"

" ah Ariel it's nice to meet you too I'm Chopper the doctor of this ship," he says proudly.

" I can see you're a really good doctor you have so many books I was roughly looking through them they all look so interesting," Ariel says admiringly.

" ehh, you like them? hehehe their really cool…ehh wait don't change the subject! why are you here?"

Chopper was mostly glad that he was receiving so many compliments but also angry that Ariel was trying to change the subject, he holds up his hands quite weary and says.

" ah right sorry I tend to do that I'm here because I thought this was the straw hats ship I kind of want to meet their captain straw hat Luffy but I can't seem to find anyone I've been roaming the ship for a while now and you're the first person I've seen".

" ah you want to meet Luffy?…this is the right ship but why do you want to meet him? He asks confused

" eh-ah that's because a friend of mine told me about him so I wanted to meet him…for two years now I suppose it's the first thing on my to-do list and I heard he would be around here so here I am " he replied bluntly.

Chopper looks at him assessing what this mysterious person had said, he doesn't seem dangerous and isn't wearing any weapons that he can see, and if he was dangerous he's sure Luffy would have felt his presence. Ariel seems nice, he's quite tall like Nami's height and seems quite broad like Usopp, yet his voice sounds girlish as well as his posture., he has long red hair that reaches his backside tied back in a loose ponytail with a thin white ribbon, he's dressed fully in dark gray track suit with a strange black cloth strapped around his torso that looks quite tight and has these big silver arm bands on either forearm also strapped tightly.

"two last questions …and I can take you to Luffy if you want," he says raising his paw and directs it at Ariel.

" ahh thank you very much. Yes sure anything what is it?" He says standing confidently.

" alright first how comes Luffy can't sense you when he can use Haki?" This was the most important question that had been on his mind ever since finding Ariel.

" ah that's because I've learned how to keep my presence level really low that even someone with the conquers Haki couldn't tell if I was right behind them"

He seems to smile under his mask proud of his ability, chopper stands there quite shocked yet impressed.

" really that's so cool that's really amazing" his eyes sparkling with eagerness to know more.

Ariel raises his arm behind his head in embarrassment.

" well it's not easy, it requires a lot of concentration even a little sneeze can completely break my concentration and my power technically is released and I won't go unnoticed you might say hehehe" he says a bit weary.

"ohh! I see you must be really strong…anyway last question" paused in place. Not sure he should ask his question and waits for Ariel's confirmation.

"mmm Uhhuh?," Ariel replies and nods her head.

" are you a girl or boy?" He had said it! and looks to Ariel curious and impatient for the answer.

At this question Ariel begins to giggle.

" I knew that was coming everyone obviously wonders that hehehe I'm a girl I'm sort of in a disguise" she says shying away a little.

Choppers mouth drops open in astonishment, "Ariel is a she.!"

" really! But you don't look like Robin or Nami?" With says as his little paws he moves them over his chest area as if something there was missing, with a puzzled expression he looked to Ariel for the answer.

"ah right my chest, that's what this black strap is for they kind of get in my way and men don't take you that serious if you're a girl they all think your weak and fragile which I beg to differ"

She tilts her head to one side again as it seems to be her habit. While chopper takes all this new information in, Ariel reaches for her pocket and extracts a small pink sweet and hands it to Chopper.

" here you go you can have one of these, their cotton candy flavor as thanks for being so kind, their really good!" she says smiling under her mask.

" ahh really thank you I love cotton candy!"

Chopper takes it gladly and quickly puts the sweet in his mouth it's really good and his face expresses it definitely, Ariel is very happy that he's enjoying it so much.

" you're a really nice person Ariel I'll take you to say hi to Luffy and everyone else" he says looking up at her happily.

" thank you very much Chopper..umm but weren't you going somewhere with all that medical stuff?"

Ariel indicates his rucksack overflowing with medical equipment and Chopper suddenly realize that he has to go help Usopp.

" ahhhh! Usopp I forgot about him I need to hurry, come on Ariel you can come help"

Chopper grabs his rucksack and hurries for the door with Ariel casually walking right behind him, following the little reindeer where ever he was going.

" yes Chopper, coming sir." She says giggling.

Chopper is already out the door shouting something that Ariel didn't catch since the wind was quite strong and the sound drowned out Choppers little voice; suddenly just before she steps outside her nose starts to itch, she's about to sneeze. Chopper stops half way to try to call out to her again when.

" AAACCCHHHHOO!"

A small shock wave is released after Ariel's sneeze, it disrupts the quiet peace that the ship had been surrounded in up till now, Ariel turns to face chopper who's stunned at the immense power that is Ariel. She lost her concentration and her presence had been announced.

" oh no Chopper"

" Ariel…"

he takes a shaky step towards her. When immediately Zoro lands on the wooden rail right in front of Ariel, all three swords shining ready for battle, eyes blazing for excitement with a wicked smile on his face like a wild beast ready to hunt its prey, Ariel taken aback stands there for a few split seconds taking in this man's powerful presence then she's active, acting solely on instinct now.


	3. StrawHats fight back? Chapter 3

Zoro lunges towards her, Ariel who's agile, grabs the wooden railing that Zoro was on and propels her body through the space between each pole, still holding onto the railing she thrusts her legs back over and her double kick hits Zoro in the face as he was about to turn, he's propelled back and hits the wall next to the open door of Choppers studio, when Ariel lands elegantly back on the other side as if waking up from a trans she hurriedly runs up to Zoro and kneels next to him, shaken that she could do such a thing Chopper joins her on the other side of Zoro worried now more than ever.

" Ariel what have you done you've hurt Zoro why did you do that?" he shouts at her.

Ariel looking quite scared and worried herself Chopper begins to see she didn't do it on purpose.

" I'm really sorry Chopper it's just…it's just when I see danger my body moves on its own, sir I'm truly sorry please forgive me"

She bows down in front of Zoro who is steadily getting up not hurt at all, he turns and grabs Ariel by the black strap on her chest.

" ooii what's the big idea? and Chopper you know this..p.p"

Zoro's eyes find Ariel's and he cuts off his sentence, suddenly Ariel's face turns red as a beetroot and Zoro quickly realizes why. He feels soft lumps at the top of the straps and turns red himself releasing Ariel immediately and moves back into the side of the ship with incredible speed while both Ariel and chopper look at him astonished.

Suddenly Ariel senses danger again, from behind Sanji swipes his leg trying to get Ariel and throw her off-balance, Ariel jumps and lands on the railing once more; more kicks come her way in an endless rhythm, she's able to dodge all but their starting to pick up speed and she realizes that their aiming to hurt. Sanji getting ever more irritated finally lands a blow. However, Ariel manages to blocks it with her silver bracelets as they magically mold as if they were liquid which covers her hands to form a shield and is flung back, doing a flip she lands with ease on the lawn right opposite Luffy and Usopp.

" who the hell are you and what are you doing on our ship?!" Sanji yells angry and glaring in Ariel's direction.

Usopp who is freaked out completely takes out his slingshot and aims it at Ariel, whereas she's completely focused on Luffy who's unfazed and staring back at her.

" o..o..o..i.i.. Sanji asked you a q..q..uestion answer it if you don't want to get hurt" Usopp asks while scared and stuttering, when he sees that she isn't answering he gets irritated and let's lose three of his projectiles.

" _green star shuriken_ "

Ninja stars fly towards Ariel who once again broken out of her dreamlike state evades them all one backflip at a time until she's at the far side of the ship, Luffy still hasn't moved. Ariel tries to explain herself.

"w...wait...I"

But with no luck, another attack comes her way, this time, it's a lightning strike curtsey of Nami.

" _thunderbolt charge_!"

Ariel jumps up onto the edge of the ship and holds up one of her hands covered by the metal of her former armbands absorbing the electric attack and with the other hand releases it out into the ocean, no time for explaining when another attack comes her way.

" _Frrrranky_ _cannon_!"

Ariel once again blocks the cannon with her armbands and the cannon ball explodes in her face, losing her balance she falls overboard. Splash.

She slowly floats downward into the endless depths of the sea slowly losing the sight of the ship, air escaping from her. She tries grabbing hold of the bubbles, she sees them float to the surface, the light steadily diminishing; deeper and deeper she falls.

"well so much for that, I can't even swim... is this the way I'm going to go? I'm so stupid… ah this view of looking up at the sky from below the water is just like that other time…right? Kuma-chan…" she thought as she sank.

Meanwhile, on deck Sanji, Usopp, Nami and Franky were congratulating themselves for a job well done at warding off an enemy, when poor Chopper bursts into tears running to the edge of the ship to look for where Ariel could be, "she hasn't yet surfaced!"

" OII! Ariel, ARE YOU OK! You guys she was a friend why did you all attack her? she just wanted to meet Luffy…*sniff*she's not coming back up she might be drowning!" he shouts at his friends.

All the straw hats look at Chopper astonished except Luffy who has a serious expression on his face.

"she? That was a woman? no way chopper your eyes must be playing tricks on you and what if he was going to hurt someone what then?" Sanji stated with an air of bewilderment and irritation at Choppers claim.

Chopper then turned back with an angry expression and yells up at Sanji.

"ARIEL IS A GIRL! SHE TOLD ME SO AND IF SHE WANTED TO HURT ME SHE COULD HAVE BUT SHE DIDN'T NOW SHES DROWNING!"

Chopper jumps up on the border of the ship and is about to jump in to save Ariel who still hasn't come up.

" CHOPPER!" They all yell as he's about to jump in.

When Zoro catches him, places him back down on the floor while he shouts at him and hits him on his shoulders.

"let me go Zoro someone has to save her!"

"I know I'm going to get her don't worry" Zoro replied bluntly, he quickly turns and jumps into the water to recover Ariel who is on the verge of death.

" what's that stupid marimo doing it's an enemy, right?" Sanji says trying to convince himself.

He turns around to seek approval from the others when he sees that Nami's head is lowered, Usopp is facing another direction and Franky is scratching his head feeling ashamed, Luffy still wearing a serious expression walks over to the side of the ship to wait for Zoro and Ariel's return, Robin and Brook have also joined them, standing and waiting. Luffy turns to face Chopper who is still up near his studio immobile looking down into the water still very worried and upset.

Under the sea Ariel is slowly sinking unable to move as if the water itself was dragging her down to some unimaginable depths, her view slowly blurring as the air in her lungs was starting to be exhausted, the light of the sun slowly fading as she falls deeper into the abyss that is the sea.

"the darkness always seems to find me, this invisible force pulling me down strangling the air out of me, I won't get to see the sun again. Well at least I saw Luffy-kun even if it was just for a moment, he seems already surrounded by wonderful and strong friends I guess you can rest easy now I'm sorry I couldn't find it though…Ace..."

Just as her vision was about to black out completely she sees someone dive in, the man with short green hair was swimming towards her.

"what's he doing does he still want to fight?"

That was her last thought as the last bubble of air left her mouth and she blacked out completely. Zoro finally reaches her and grabs her arm pulling her close to him, he placed her arm around his shoulder and his around her waist and starts to swim towards the surface.

When their heads poke out of the water Chopper is overjoyed he runs down the stairs to meet them as Zoro climbs up the rope ladder that was thrown over with Ariel's whole body over his shoulder. Luffy greets him with a pat on his back.

"welcome back Zoro nice work hehe"

"yeah yeah, hey Chopper she needs some help" he replies while looking for Chopper.

Zoro lays her down on the ground very gently surprising his crew mates who look back and forth from him to the stranger on the grass. Chopper comes in pushing through his friends arriving at Ariel's side, he places an ear on her chest, she has a slow heart beat and it's getting weaker.

"quick I need someone to carry her to my studio she needs urgent medical attention her pulse is getting weaker!".

Without even thinking Zoro quickly scoops Ariel up in his arms once more and is heading for the studio with Chopper at his heels while the others again look at the three walking away with great curiosity, Zoro has never acted with such concern for a stranger in that way. Zoro lays her down on the bed and stands unmoving in front of her while Chopper gets ready.

" Zoro can you remove her mask? so she can breathe easier" Chopper asks as he gathers his equipment.

Zoro does what he's told with a shaky hand he slowly removes the mask only to find a stunningly beautiful face under it, it's mesmerizing and he keeps staring at her fascinated, how someone like her could move like that and have so much power? He wondered, when he moves her bangs out of her face he finds at the top left corner of her head a small horn dark gray in color barely noticeable under her hair; When he's woken up from his fantasizing by Chopper asking him a question.

" Zoro you need to remove her clothes too, otherwise she can't breathe properly"

"ehh?! her clothes?!"

He turns to face the girl once more and back at Chopper, face flushed with embarrassment, he storms out the door.

"Nami CHOPPER NEEDS YOUR HELP!"

Nami looks up at him and starts heading towards the studio looking puzzled.

"what for? weren't you helping him?…and why is your face all red?"

"shut up and just go help Chopper" he replies irritated still flustered.

"alright, alright calm down," she says shooing away his irritated tone.

Nami enters the studio and sees the girl lying on the bed and exclaims.

" wow she really is a girl and very pretty too!"

She shuts the door and helps Chopper with the task that Zoro couldn't handle, while the others go back to normal knowing that everything's going to be ok now that Chopper was in control of the situation, Zoro abruptly sits down next to the door having no intention of moving; heading up the stairs his way are both Sanji and Brook sneaky as ever to get a peek at what's happening in the studio.

"a new lady has graced us with her presence and Nami-swan says she's beautiful I want to see" Sanji exclaims while drooling.

"yes, Sanji-san I wonder as well what mysterious beauty lies behind that door," Brook says with the same devilish expression at his tail.

As they get closer to the small porthole on the studio's door to get a peek Zoro stands up furious and hits the two across the ship with one punch.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT! damn ero cook you're not even getting close"

Sanji getting to his feet with a swift movement, immediately ends up butting heads with Zoro.

"haa? what did you say shit head marimo? why do you care? and why should I listen to you!?"

"ehh? what did you call me you damn ero cook?, I'll slice you up into a million pieces if you don't get out of my face!".

"you shit head marimo! you get out of my face or I'll char your ugly mug with my kicks".

And their heated discussion continues for a while until Nami bursts through the door and pummels them both until you find both full of bruises and lumps on the floor.

"stop shouting you idiots she's sleeping and if you wake her up I'll kill both of you got that?!" she says furiously.

" yes," they say in unison sounding beaten up.

Luffy and the others laugh and normality has returned to their day once again, Chopper walks out of the studio and slowly closes the door behind him, breathing a sigh of relief and visually relaxing.

"she's going to be ok she just needs a little rest, Sanji could you prepare something cold and fresh for her to eat when she wakes up?" He asks walking up to Sanji.

" ah right away! with pleasure, just think waking up and enjoying my meal she will defiantly fall for me".

" shut up and just go cook you perverted ero cook" Zoro adds irritated.

" haa? what did you say moss head?!"

And they were butting heads again, Nami breaks them apart once more with a fist load of punches, and everyone goes back to what they were doing before all this happened, Luffy still complaining about his hunger, Sanji irritated shouting back at him, Robin goes back to reading her book, Franky meddling with his work, Usopp putting away his experiments and cleaning up, Brook begins to play his melody once more, Zoro sits back down beside the door, Nami goes to get changed, and Chopper re-enters the studio and sits on his chair next to Ariel who is peacefully sleeping, waiting for her to wake up.


	4. Ariel and the Straw Hats Chapter 4

A few hours after lunch had past; Ariel's sleepily opens her eyes, she finds herself back in the studio, she slowly sits up and a sharp pain shoots up her entire body, she pauses for a moment to recover. Then she moves her legs over the side of the exam table, they dangle over the side for a while as she searched the room, she doesn't notice anyone around; looking down at herself she sees she's wearing a plain white t-shirt; that is obviously too large for her, reaching her lower thighs, her mask is off and she quickly blushes feeling completely exposed. In that moment, the door opens slowly and she sees little Chopper holding a tray with food on it, her stomach rumbles; it's been days since she'd eaten. Chopper notices that's she's awake and quickly places the tray down and runs to hug her. Ariel taken a little by surprise, is still happy to see him and hugs him back.

"Ariel you're awake! are you feeling ok? does anything hurt?" He says overlooking every inch of her, worried.

"hehehe hi Chopper. I'm fine thanks to you, just a little head ache that's all, thank you for saving me"

"I'm glad you're ok but I'm not the only one you need to thank, Zoro's the one who got you out of the water"

"ah? the man with the green hair? His name is Zoro? right I'll thank him too" she says remembering him.

"here come with me, you can eat with everyone and you can meet Luffy too! I told them what you told me so this time they won't attack you"

"Hahahahaha that would be nice thank you"

She tilts her head to the side and gives Chopper a breath-taking smile and he smiles back at her as he takes hold of her hand and leads her out the door, the bright sunshine covers her face, temporarily blinding her. When she adjusted to the light she takes in the beauty of the Sunny Go, the features that she couldn't notice before "this feels nostalgic for some reason. Hahaha but I wasn't really attacked last time" she thought to herself remembering a dear memory, when her eye catches someone sitting behind the door, she pokes her head around it to see Zoro sitting there staring back at her they both turn red and turn around, Chopper pulls Ariel and encourages her to follow him towards the kitchen, Zoro nervously, and silently gets up and follows them.

Inside the activities cease as soon as the three enter, Sanji is the first to react out of all of them as usual. He immediately swoons all around Ariel pushing Chopper to the side.

"ahh! mademoiselle please forgive my rudeness earlier I did not mean to harm you"

"it's quite alright you didn't hurt me at all"

She gives him a small weak smile and Sanji heart is about to explode, while behind Ariel a raging beast seems to be upset, Zoro punches Sanji away from Ariel and their normal fight starts, Ariel fascinated with their behavior is reminded of a memory of two other people who used to act the same way and she smiles at the two, who continue to fight while Nami gestures Ariel to come sit down near her. The food which was laid out on the table looked amazing, all beautifully prepared. Ariel slowly takes her seat.

"don't mind those two there, they're always being idiots, you must be hungry have some of Sanji's food, he might be an idiot but he's cooking skills are amazing. He's the blonde one fighting by the way and the moss head is Zoro" Nami explains as she scoots closer to Ariel with a plate of fresh pasta.

"ah thank you that's very kind of you and the food looks delicious, hehehe they both remind me of friends of mine always arguing... ah! where are my manners"

Ariel stands up suddenly stopping the fight between Zoro and Sanji, she bows her head to everyone.

"my name is Ariel I'm sorry I caused you all so much trouble especially you Zoro-san if I hurt you I'm truly sorry"

She turns and bows to Zoro whom looks embarrassed, meanwhile the rest smile and begin to laugh, Ariel not seeing what their laughter is about raises her gaze and sees them all smiling at her. Robin is the first to speak, Ariel notices that she is much older than the rest and more mature as she begins to speak.

"you don't have to apologize we're the ones who attacked you, and you're no trouble at all and seem to be a very well-mannered girl, Chopper has taken quite the liking to you as well, so please don't worry too much about it"

Everyone around the table nods in agreement, Sanji and Zoro had also taken their seats, Ariel is so delighted that she finds herself tearing up at the kindness of these people, she tilts her head to the side and gives out another one of her dazzling smiles that makes everyone smile back.

"thank you very much, you're all very kind" she beams.

Ariel takes her seat again and they all bombard her with questions as she takes a few bites of her pasta. Luffy and Zoro who are busy eating didn't ask anything, Robin who is just listening giggles as the questions begin. Ariel tries her best to answer them all.

"what are your bracelets made of?" Asks Franky his curiosity had been peaked.

"sea platinum, it's the hardest metal in the world... I think?" she replies looking at her arms. Now that the metal had morphed back into silver armbands.

"how old are you Ariel-chuwann?" Asks Sanji with hearts for eyes, too close to her face.

"ah well I'm 20 years old" she replies slightly blushing as Sanji swoons once more.

"where did you learn to fight like that?" Usopp asks, astonished by her movements from earlier.

"ah my master trained me on my home island but I've been training for the past two years with someone else" she says smiling.

"is that you're real hair color? it's beautiful" Nami says while casually playing with it.

"ah yes, apparently I got it from my father it's the only thing I have of his" she says as she blushes while holding a strand of it in front of her eyes.

"Ariel-san may I see your panties?" Brook tries his luck again completely serious.

Before Ariel can even react both Nami and Zoro hit Brook causing him to fly across the table.

"stop asking indecent questions you bag of bones!" Nami yells furious, with her fist steaming.

"I don't think I'm even wearing any right now hahaha" Ariel states jokingly.

After such a remark both Brook and Sanji are up spraying nose bleeds across the table, while Zoro spits out his booze.

"Ariel-chan you shouldn't say things like that around perverts like them, although I don't know what happened with Zoro…"

Nami turns her attention to Zoro who tries to recompose himself, trying to hide his embarrassment, when Ariel starts giggling.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean it that way, I was just stating the truth"

And again, Brook's and Sanji's nose bleeding fountains erupt, Zoro spits out his drink once more, Robin giggles along with Luffy, Franky and Chopper, and Nami pounds the three making them hit the table with great force.

"Ariel! Ariel do you have any more of those sweets?" Chopper asks sticking his tongue out happily.

"ah yeah I do but they're in my cloths and they got wet, I don't know if they're any good anymore" she says a little down.

At the mention of sweets Luffy joins the conversation, even though Chopper looks sad because he won't be getting anymore sweets.

"sweets? there are sweets? I want some!"

"ah I'm sorry but their all rewind because I fell into the sea" she said apologetically.

"ah man I wanted sweets. Oh well"

Ariel starts to laugh and they all turn to face her distracted from their own conversations.

"hahaha, you're just like he said you would be, hehehe"

"he? Who are you talking about?" Nami asked puzzled.

"ah! didn't you want to meet Luffy? why is that?" As always Robin asked the more concrete question on everyone's mind.

"ah... well that's because he told me all about Luffy-kun so I wanted to meet you, I also promised that I would look after him if he needed anything so here I am"

She says smiling broadly. She still hasn't made any sense and everyone's more confused than ever.

"who told you about me?" Luffy asked bluntly.

"ah right I didn't say who it was. He's a dear friend of mine I've known him for a long time now, well not as long as you Luffy-kun"

Everyone listens carefully to what she's about to say, Luffy who is still clueless and smiling with a piece of meat in his mouth. Ariel continues smiling more wearily now.

"the person who told me all about you is... no sorry. Was your brother Ace" she tilts her head to the side again and smiles sweetly at the mention of the name.

They all freeze and turn to Luffy who has also frozen to the spot, placing down his food and wearing a serious expression that slowly softens as he remembers his sweet older brother.

"you knew Ace... and he told you about me... how?"

"I did, we were Nakama. We were on Fathers ship together"

Everyone turns pale except Luffy who's smiling broadly, what Ariel just said shocked them all.

"what do you mean by 'Fathers' ship?" Nami asked shaking.

"I mean my Father's ship" she cocks her head to one side again not understanding their reaction.

"you...y...you mean that...that" Usopp started stuttering.

"Ace was a White beard pirate, right? that means that your 'Father' could only be..." Robin stated the facts when they all reached the conclusion and in unison blurted out the name.

"SHIROHIGE!"

"yes technically, I'm his adopted daughter I have yet to find my biological Father but he's all I've known as a Father figure since I was 8 so he allowed me to carry on his name" Ariel says trying to calm them down.

They all breathe a huge sigh of relief.

"geez that scared me, Ariel be more specific and complete your thoughts when you say these things" Usopp says calming down.

"we all thought that you were blood related to Shirohige, we already have this idiot with dangerous and infamous blood in him" Nami says indicating Luffy who is still happily eating away again.

"oh right, sorry I tend to do that, it's a bad habit" she says putting her arm behind her head.

"so, where are you from?" Robin asks to change the subject.

"a small former slave island in south blue" Ariel says while looking a bit weary.

"how comes? were you a slave too?" Nami asks worried.

"it was a slave island only for a short period of time, the slave drivers all ran away so the former slaves kind of ruled the island for a while until other people started moving in" she replied.

"why did they suddenly abandon everything? did they quit?" Asked Usopp still not understanding the whole picture.

"no, they didn't quit. I saw some faces I will never forget still roaming the seas, still in the dirty profession" her expression hardens as do theirs remembering the encounter they had at Shambody, they all wait for the answer to the second question anxiously even Luffy had paused his eating again.

"they ran away because... *sigh* because of...me... it's not something I'm proud of though"

They all look at her more confused than ever, here was this sweet looking girl, who was on White beards ship as his adopted daughter, and before that was a slave and caused all the slave drivers to abandon her home island. Amazing.

"Ariel that's amazing you made them leave your island isn't that good, right?" Chopper said full of admiration.

Ariel looked down at him with a look of shamed. She is not proud of what she did, whatever it was.

"not really... the method I think I used wasn't exactly the right one" she doesn't look at anyone and looks to the floor.

"you said 'I think' what does that mean?" Sanji asked worried.

"I don't remember, I blacked out... and when I woke up…" she stops briefly and adds "it's in the past really... if you don't mind I wouldn't care to share, it's quite hard to remember….it was a long time ago"

She looks down at her hands and doesn't add another word hoping that they don't ask any other questions on the subject, the StrawHats look at each other and smile. They all know how troubling it is to remember things. So, they don't stick to the subject, although they are still very curious.

"true the past is the past no need to bring it up if you're uncomfortable we understand and don't want to push you" Robin says giving a sweet smile, Ariel lifts her head in surprises and looks at all the smiling faces looking at her. "they...they understand...they know what it's like" she thinks to herself, fighting back tears. Ariel bows her head to them again, all while they start to giggle.

"ohh Ariel-chan you don't have to bow to us please don't…"

Ariel looks up and locks eyes with Nami, Nami notices the strength hidden within them and stops immediately. Ariel turns towards the rest as her gaze sweeps over them all and stops at Luffy.

"I'm sorry you probably feel strange if I bow but you all deserve a lot of respect just by looking at all of you I can see the struggles you faced and conquered with each other's help, the strength of your will to fulfill your dreams and reach your goals, the beauty of the bonds you've created , even though you don't really need me to tell you this but you're not just some random pirate crew, you're a family and a special one at that"

She offers them a very warm and endearing smile "I'm very lucky to get to meet you all, hehehe"

The straw hats look at her, with wonder plastered on their faces, here was this strange girl that appeared out of nowhere and with one look she understood them in a heartbeat without knowing them, their history, their bonds and she just fits. They immediately like her even more. Luffy chuckles his signature chuckle, he knew from the moment he met her eyes that she was a good person.

"ahh Ariel-chuuawwn! You look deep into our souls and understand us so well. ahh you're such a precious gem" Sanji says swirling around her. But soon enough Nami swats him away.

"stay away you." Sanji immediately regains his composure and begins to swoon over Nami who gets even more irritated.

Ariel giggles at the spectacle while the others find it just normal behavior.

"Ariel, can I ask you a question?" she turns her head towards Chopper and nods reassuringly.

"uhuh anything" Chopper looks at Nami who nods back with a smile while holding Sanji away from her.

"when me and Nami were changing you out of your wet cloths…we sort of found umm that..."

Zoro's attention spiked and focused on Ariel who seemed quite calm, he had seen it too and was also wondering what it was or what she is. It had caught everyone's attention even Luffy's.

Chopper continued his question "why do you have a small horn on the left side of your forehead and a small tail?"

Chopper shut his eyes afraid he might have asked too much of Ariel with the question, everything was silent, he slowly opened one eye to see what Ariel's reaction was, and there she was smiling down at him with her usual tipped head to the side, he slowly relaxed seeing the question didn't bother her and waited for the answer as did the rest of his friends.

"well, I can see why you would ask that question and I'm sure you're confused and I didn't really explain myself well enough about exactly where I came from thanks to my usual bad habit" thumping her head lightly with her fist she sticking her tongue out jokingly. While the straw hats were still more confused.

"although it's a bit complicated" she pauses. Unsure, however, she remembers that Chopper is a talking reindeer, Franky is a cyborg, and Brook is a talking skeleton, her being what she is wouldn't faze them, not even a little. So, she continued.

"well... I'm sure you all know what a devil fruit is I suppose, right?" without interrupting they all nod. "but do you know where they come from?".

"THE SEA!" Luffy shouts raising his hands over his head as if someone had scored a point in some game.

"Luffy that's being too general hehehe" Robin points out and they all start to laugh.

"they haven't quite discovered the origin of the fruits but I saw some notes in Vega Punks lab, a lot of notes about them! but their still very mysterious" says Franky while scratching his metal nose.

"they remove your ability to swim, in exchange for strange abilities" Usopp says proudly.

"you're both right but there's a lot more to them and only a few people know the truth even the world government doesn't have the information, only the people I've told know because I'm the only one to know the truth"

"hehehe how interesting" Robin giggles intrigued.

"so Ariel-chan you're the only one that knows where they come from…how?" Sanji asked and they all seem to get more excited and interested in her story. Zoro stands up stopping them all and making them focus on him, he even took Luffy by surprise.

"you still haven't told us what you are. Stop changing the subject and just say it"

Ariel looks a bit hurt, and Zoro starts to look a bit taken back, maybe he shouldn't have asked the question in such a tone.

"right sorry, well technically I'm half human and half…sea demon from my mother's side, my people are the ones that create the devil fruits"

All their faces fall, Zoro is taken by surprise he wasn't expecting something this big.


	5. Ariel's Story Chapter 5

Devilnison they shout out "EEEHHH!" Ariel shuffles uncomfortably in her seat this is always the initial reaction and she can never get used to it.

"you're the one who made the devil fruit I ate? and Robins? Choppers too? and..." Luffy begins to light up.

"wait. Not exactly... I personally didn't make them but the devil part of my family has done it for millions of years, does and continues too, we are a very ancient race, we live deep below the sea, even deeper than fish man island." She looks down at Chopper who's now sitting next to her with his head lowered.

"I hope I haven't frightened you...I'm not scary, am I?"

Chopper pops his head up and his eyes shine with admiration, suddenly she's surrounded by Luffy, Usopp, Chopper, Sanji, and Brook all with a sparkle in their eye. Ariel is astonished by their reaction.

"Ariel that's totally cool! It's thanks to this devil fruit that I get to help people and be with my friends and you're telling me that you make them! that's amazing!" Chopper says with sparks in his eyes.

"I'm glad you're not afraid... but like I said before I didn't…"

"it's definitely amazing! do you think you could make me one that allows me to swim while also having all the power huh? huh? I could become a super sea warrior hehehe" Usopp asks pressing closer and closer.

"like I was saying it doesn't depend…"

"wooow! could you make one with the power to make meat pop up anywhere huh?" Luffy asks all hyped up with a drooling mouth.

"that seems impossible even if I did know how to make one but I..."

"ahhhh! my dear Ariel-chuuawwn, you're the most beautiful creature I've ever seen, and you're the most beautiful devil I have ever set eyes on you're not scary at all" Sanji says while swooning around her with a sweet smile on his face.

"I happy you're not afraid and thank you but..." She blushes at his attention.

"no lady should be considered scary even if you're a devil, Ariel-san you are very beautiful" Brook states in a gentleman-like tone.

"thank you but that's not the whole story...".

She takes a break it seems the StrawHats have begun to discuss the possibilities of devil fruits while she's left looking at them. She sighs knowing that they will turn to her when they want answers. "they are a strange bunch but in a good way, I'm so glad that they didn't get scared of me after I told them what I am. I hope they never see me like...that, not them."

Her gaze wonders around the room looking at them discuss and laugh at the possibilities when her eyes lock with Zoro's, he's staring at her trying to read something in her, then he blushes and so does she, they unlock their gazes and try to focus on something else.

"will you... numbskulls shut up! let Ariel-chan finish her story" Nami yells giving the boys discussing lumps on the head apart from Chopper.

"please Ariel-chan continue" says Robin still very curious.

"hehehe right… well like I said I can't create them I'm only half a devil, only a full devil can create a devil fruit and they don't do it so that humans can gain powers, they have a specific purpose"

"being what exactly? and why do they give you these powers anyway?" Asked Franky puzzled.

"well since my people are an ancient race they have certain powers where these powers come from I don't really know. The things I do know are the things my mother told me when I was younger."

All the StrawHats are attentive and listening closely to the secret information that not even the government knows about.

"devil fruits are created by my people to keep the balance of the earth's surface, for example they are placed in specific regions of the sea floor where the earth's crust is weak and to keep earthquakes or tectonic plates from colliding and forming volcanoes and destroying whole islands, each devil must pass some of their power or energy called QI, to the royal family who create the fruits and place them in these specific areas around the world, the QI that's inside the fruits reinforces the crust and therefor no earthquakes occur... once the energy has been almost consumed the fruits float to the surface that's how humans find them, after discovering that they grant you power if you eat them humans started to think that the power you gain was yours but technically you're stealing it from the devils"

The StrawHats listen carefully without moving drinking in every word Ariel lets out her mouth.

"not that I blame or hate people with devil fruits, I don't mind if humans eat them and gain power but I just don't like certain humans that hurt their own kind to gain this power or miss use it for horrible deeds…"

She lowers her head and tightens her fist, both Zoro and Luffy notice her anger.

"ah sorry I got all serious there hehehe. That's mostly what I know about them then there's the fun facts that I'm sure you know when you eat them." The mood lightens mostly so they don't make Ariel uncomfortable.

"you can't eat two fruits otherwise you explode is that true?" Robin says smiling and giggling as if the question was nothing important.

"ooii Robin why do you have to always ask the gruesome questions?" Franky replied weary of what Robin just said.

"hehehe it's true because human bodies can't handle all the power that devils have so only about 1/4th of the power is left in the fruit when it floats to the surface and that's not even the full QI that devils have"

"ohh so, Ariel you're pretty strong if you're half devil, right?" Chopper asked.

"I don't really know for sure, but there is one thing I'm sure of. It's that there's stronger people than me and it doesn't always have to do with power" she smiles at him as if she's known him for forever.

"so what powers do devils have, can they make meat pop up huh? which reminds me I'm still hungry" Luffy began to whine again.

"you just ate a few hours ago, its 5:30 in the afternoon and it's not nearly dinner time you're an animal always eating." Sanji began to get irritated again.

"hehehe but Sanji I can't help it make me some more food" Sanji grabs and pulls his stretchy cheek and begins to get even more upset.

"it has gotten late, if you will excuse me I need to go and find something in the library" Robin gets up and leaves the kitchen and heads for the library. Nami gets up as well and extends a hand to Ariel.

"it has gotten late, Ariel-chan wanna go take a bath? I bet you're exhausted, you must feel cold after your fall today, we can talk more to get to know each other better"

"a bath… together…? I've never done that before is it ok?"

"of course! Chopper can join us too, right Chopper?"

"yeah I wanna come too" he said happily.

By this time Sanji was frozen to the spot still holding Luffy; who was struggling to free himself, by the cheek with blood running down his nose, Brook too was leaning in, both waiting with giant ears to hear her answer.

"alright I don't mind" she slowly gets up and they walk out of the kitchen.

Sanji and Brook are unmoving, Luffy finally manages to pull free gets up and pulls Usopp outside to try a new game, Franky gets up and heads back to his little project outside, and as Zoro begins to rise, both Sanji and Brook lose it.

"Nami-chuwan and Ariel-chuwan, ttta... akking a bath too... ge… ther ahh I've got to peek at this paradise, hoohhoo a once in a life time opportunity!"

"two goddesses bathing together! nothing but skin! Chopper-san you don't know how lucky you are" Brook says imaging the scene.

They look at each other with sly expressions tiptoeing quickly toward the door to head out to the bath house. Zoro follows them out stopping right outside the door, he stares at the two heading up the stairs. "those idiots… why do I care that their going up there? … they always do it… and get shocked by Nami…so why do I care? ..." he scratches his head frustrated, and follows them.

Meanwhile Nami, Chopper and Ariel have already entered the bath house, Ariel looks around the great room, at one end she notices that there's a strange single cloud floating, opposite it was a vast bath tub with a marvelous enormous window behind it with the view of the slowing evening sky, she made her way towards it searching the sky for something only to find that just a small amount of stars had decorated it, it wasn't late enough for all of them to come out of hiding. Nami sneaky as always grabs Ariel by the shoulders startling her, and sent her spinning into the changing room.

"come on Ariel we have to get undressed if we want to take a bath, right? Chopper you get undressed over on the boy's side alright"

"alright Nami" he salutes and goes to the other side of the room to the boys changing room, while Ariel started blushing as Nami did quick work of removing her simple white shirt, and is soon naked trying to cover as much as possible with her little tail. Nami notices that she's nervous and tries to encourage her as she leads her out again. "she's really never done something like this before, so cute and innocent hehehe"

"Ariel-chan your tail is so cute! Now come this way I'll show you what I'm capable of with my weather tempo, and I wanna brush your pretty red hair too! hehehe"

"ahh! Nami-san, do you mean that you're the one that made that cloud? How?" Ariel asked looking surprised with her little devil tail now wagging.

"hehehe from some weather research I did these past two years that's just a normal cloud but if you add some hot air to it..."

She grabs her trusty weather baton, and begins to twirls it, red bubbles come out of each end and enter the small cloud, it suddenly starts turning a light shade of grey as if it's about to rain.

"and you get a nice warm shower" and like on cue beneath the little cloud it began to rain.

"wooow Nami-san that's amazing!" Ariel extends her hand under it to feel the warm water sooth her skin, when Nami grabs her from behind again and they both end up under the down pour of the cloud shower, they find themselves laughing and enjoying themselves, it's been awhile since Ariel enjoyed herself, suddenly Chopper appears from the changing room to witness the spectacle.

"hey I wanna join in too"

Both Ariel and Nami turn to look at him, in unison they regain laughing, as Chopper joins them under the shower. The room began to fill with soft steam, while on the outside Sanji and Brook are busy enjoying themselves listening to the wonderful sounds emanating from the bath house, and trying their luck to sneak a peek at the girls through the port hole on the door, unfortunately the small glass is covered with steam, they can't exactly make out the details but are able to see the basic body structure of the people inside, they can't contain themselves and add to the steam covering the glass with their own hot breath.

"ahh I can't see too well, ohh but the wonderful sounds that escape this door are so tempting I want to know what's going on inside, Chopper you are one lucky bastard" Sanji said while clenching his fists and trying to peek into the room.

"Sanji-san please move a little, I cannot see my share of the window, I too wish to view the beautiful creatures behind this door yohoho" Brook started to push in as well.

"yeah yeah whatever we can't really see anything with the steam, I'm going to try rub some off let's see if we can catch a glimpse."

Sanji begins to lightly rub his hand over the glass, it seems to improve the view of the room inside but not completely, when suddenly he spots some long red hair move into view, they both lean in closer, noses at the ready to explode, Ariel is about to turn around in full view.

In unison they begin to impatiently stutter " Ar...ar...riel-chan..."

When from behind they receive fast blows to the bottom of their neck by the hilt of a sword, they collapse onto the door setting off a loud thump, which startles Ariel inside, meanwhile Nami seems angered and wrathfully heads for the door, her baton in hand at full length with little electric sparks filling the air around it. She threw the door open furiously, steam pouring out into the cool night air; she knows exactly who was trying to peek. "those damn perverts can't they ever take a damn… break…huh?" only to find no one outside, she looks both ways but there's no one in sight. "that's strange? they never run away…" she decides that maybe she misheard and heads back inside closing the door behind her. Behind the left side corner Zoro is backed against the wall holding unconscious Sanji and Brook in each arm, he takes a breath of relief "that was close if I would have been seen by Nami she would definitely, misunderstand and… electrocute me" he swallows the thought, he carries the guys down the stairs quietly and places them at the base of the stairs. Zoro scratches his head looking at his two companions "ahh... the ero cook is going to bug me about this later..." turning quickly he decides to walk back up the stairs and quietly position himself outside the door, sits and listens to what's going on inside without even daring to look, just the thought made him blush momentarily. "I'm only sitting here in case those idiots wake up and go at it again... that's all" he told himself.

"Nami-san who was it?" Ariel asks holding little Chopper against her chest, both dripping wet after the shower, Nami shrugged as she walked back.

"I thought it might have been Sanji-kun or Brook, those perverts never miss a chance but there was no one there…it was very strange"

Ariel looks toward the door, focusing on it she sees an immense light blue outline glowing on the other side of the door, she blushes, she's the only one who can see him, Nami turns to follow her gaze.

"do you see someone outside the door Ariel-chan?"

Both Ariel and Zoro tense at the question, "damn can she really see me? why do I feel like she can?" Ariel reacted immediately.

"no Nami-san I just thought something pasted but I can't sense anyone outside you don't have to worry."

"ah alright… then let's get into the bath before we get cold hehehe"

"right let's go Chopper" Ariel says happily looking down at him in her arms.

"hahaha yeah"

"she can really sense me! how? when I have trouble sensing her, and why didn't she say anything?" Zoro calmed his racing heart as he pondered this.

"*sigh* that was close, but why did I say I didn't sense anyone when he's clearly there?" Ariel slowly joins Nami and Chopper in the bath.

"so Ariel what kind of power do you have, you are half devil, right? So,what kind of powers are they? are they like mine?" At Choppers question Ariel snapped back into reality.

"ahh my powers well, I can use conquers Haki for starters" looking embarrassed and sinking half her head in the water.

"eh really?" Nami exclaimed "so you can use the same power Luffy has?" Asked Chopper.

"eh Luffy-kun can use conquers Haki already? amazing"

"yeah he's been training these past few years, we all have" nodded Nami with an air of pride, Ariel was even more amazed at the faith Luffy's friends had in him.

"oh is that why they say that you all disappeared for two years? you were training together" Nami shakes her head.

"not together we were separated before the war, I found myself on the weather island Weatharia and trained there by myself with the wizards of weather." Nami explained

"weather wizards? that sounds so cool! where were you Chopper" she turns to hear his story.

"ah well I was on an island with big birds and humans that looked like cavemen, they had so many medicine books and medicinal plants that I had to stay to become a better doctor and fighter too" he said full of joy.

"waa! that's amazing Chopper, it must have been so interesting reading all those books I bet" she says smiling at him with eyes full of admiration. Chopper blushes.

"ahh don't think you're making me happy with that compliment, idiot hehehe" all three laugh at his behavior.

"then what about your devil powers? what else can you do Ariel-chan" Nami asked even more curious.

"well devils can sense a person's soul, and we can use it to see a person's life, their past too... technically, because the soul is the proof of someone's existence, technically that is..."

Nami and Chopper look at her amazed, it seemed to them a wonderful power, but Ariel knew better but gave them a weak, sort of forced smile and continued explaining. Zoro outside suddenly straightens up to listen, very interested.

"I'm good at ninja skills and close hand to hand combat as well as with various weapons although that's not a very devil-like power..." the platinum bracelets on her wrists morphed into different weapons as they did earlier today, short swords, knives, a whip, ect… Nami and Chopper were generally astounded by the variety.

"Although, a devil power of mine is that I can morph my metal bracelets"

"ahhh! sooo cool!" Exclaimed Chopper with stars in his eyes.

"that's a lot of weapons and you can use them all Ariel-chan?" Nami said astonished.

"yes my master taught me to master them all" she says proudly, Nami looked at her lovingly "she must be really fond of her master..." Ariel continues.

"as I said before devils can sense a person's soul, we can also read them in a sense"

"eh really?" Nami sounded amazed

"what do you mean by 'reading souls'" Chopper asked intrigued.

"well exactly what it sounds like. The soul is the proof of one's existence and contains all their past, I can read their history. Every living thing has a soul all though there are differences, such as the size of a soul, color sometimes differs from person to person, ohh and I can also see their heart where all your feelings and personalities are stored" Nami and Chopper look back and forth from each other to her stunned, this was always the reaction to this power but Ariel knew better than to just look at it as a benefit, she smiled weakly at them trying to hide her discomfort and went on.

"and lastly I can control objects with my QI, I think all devils do that"

Nami and Chopper gave confused looks that Ariel found very normal and calmed them down with a giggle placing one hand behind her head and the other just above to surface of the water.

"hehehe it's a bit confusing but I'll explain while demonstrating alright?" they both nod reassuringly.

Ariel smiles and focuses on her hand close to the water, she can only see her shimmering reflection, when suddenly and slowly she begins to lift her hand from the surface when the water follows, Nami and Chopper gasp at what Ariel can do, she begins to play with the floating water, then she throws it into Choppers face with a laugh, the two quickly join in.

"wow Ariel-chan that's amazing and you can control anything... fire too?" Nami asked bewildered.

"well not everything...apart from my bracelets I can't mold other metals like this, but it's not really as great a power as you might think" she tilts her head to the side and smiles weakly, Nami and Chopper looks turn to worry.

"how comes Ariel? you can control anything, why is it bad?" Ariel crosses her arms over her chest as if she gotten a blow of cold wind.

"it drains a lot of my energy if I do it on a large scale, which in turn makes me sleep for a longer time, about a week every month"

"that's not so bad… you can get more beauty sleep…" Nami says jokingly.

"NO!" Ariel raises her voice which startles them both and Zoro outside.

"Ariel-chan...?" Nami reaches out and touches her shoulder which startles Ariel a bit.

"I'm sorry, you don't know, I shouldn't have raised my voice at you" she lowered her head to them.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked such a question there must be a reason why you don't like it" Chopper lowers his head, Ariel looks at them both, their faces full of worry, for her. She takes a deep breath and places a hand on Choppers head, startling him when he looks up she's wearing her dazzling smile. Taking both by surprise.

"no, I'm sorry you're my new friends I should tell you, there are many reasons why it's terrible when I sleep, I get these terrible nightmares about my past and I can't wake up from them until the week has past so, it like always relieving my worst memories." Both Nami and Chopper start to get scared.

"Ariel you don't…" Chopper tries to stop her.

"then I miss a whole week of life and it seems that every time I fall asleep I miss the most important moments, the moments I'm needed most, like when a Nakama was killed, and Ace got captured…"

"Ariel-chan it's alright we don't…" Nami tires as well but it doesn't work Ariel continues to explain.

"the worst of it is if I ever wake up when I'm not supposed too…I…I become a... monster, just like in the war and I don't ever, ever! want it to happen again, I don't like sleeping because I'm afraid of hurting the ones I care about, I'm afraid of…myself" silence surrounds them all, Nami and Chopper wide eyed, staring at Ariel who's holding herself and not looking at them.

"I'll understand if you want me to leave, so I'll just get…" suddenly she's engulfed in a bear hug both Nami and Chopper hold on to her tight all full of tears, she's taken back by their reaction.

"waaaaa! Ariel –chan I'm so sorry that's a very sad story" Nami tearing up had her arms around Ariel's neck.

"Ariel…*sniff* please don't go, I want you to stay here with us" Chopper said while holding her arm tightly.

"you…you guys" she smiles and hugs them back "thank you".

She turns to the window and looks to the sky outside and says to herself "they're such nice people, Ace... Luffy is going to be just fine but somehow I get the feeling it wasn't him who you were worried about were you?"

Outside Zoro smiles to himself and slowly gets up and leaves "what an interesting woman"

"so Ariel you don't sleep?" Chopper asked worried.

"well no, every living thing needs rest, I've gotten better at it during these past two years with someone's help, oh and a special sleeping pill from a friend of mine" she smiles sweetly remembering her dear friend.

"eh what pill and who? What about the nightmares?" He says and Ariel shudders.

"unfortunately I still get those, but this time I can wake up from them and instead of sleeping a whole week I sleep everyday like a normal human thanks to the pill and training I got from Shanks-san"

Nami freezes at the name.

"ehh! You mean red haired Shanks? one of the 4 emperors you trained with him!"

"ehh! One of the 4 emperors!" Chopper yelled in shock.

"hahaha yes Shanks-sans the one who helped me after the war, he's been like another Father for me when Shirohige and Ace pasted away" she smiles.

Nami instead is sweating nervously. "Shanks!…what is this girl?…wait red haired Shanks? …red hair? ….no way!" she rises immediately from the water startling both Chopper and Ariel.

"Nami-san is everything ok? you've gone pale?" Ariel asks worried.

"no everything's fine! just got a little dizzy from the hot water, I'll be going first, stay as much as you like Chopper will show you to my room later when you're done ok? there's something I have to do, ok later!"

She gets out of the bath and grabs a towel hanging on a hook, raps it around herself and leaves the bath. Ariel and Chopper are left alone, shocked but a little sad Ariel looks at Chopper for answers.

"you don't think she's scared of me, do you?"

"of course not, its Nami! if she has something to do then it's important, it has nothing to do with you. Can we play more with the floating water?" he says with a grin on his face.

Ariel looks at the door one more time and chooses to trust what Chopper has said and have faith in Nami, she begins to pull the water into the air again to form spheres and plays with Chopper at throwing them like snow balls laughing away. Nami rushed into her study, hurriedly pulling out a draw from her desk to reveal a pile of wanted posters. "please let me be wrong…where is it…ah there" she stops her eyes glued to the single wanted poster, on it is the picture of Shanks, she cups her hand over her mouth not to let out a gasp. "oh no…"


	6. Ariel and Zoro bond? Chapter 6

After the enjoyable bath, both Ariel and Chopper walk out of the bath house wrapped in towels, giggling and smiling at one another. Chopper leads the way to the girl's quarters so Ariel can change.

"here Ariel this is Nami and Robin's room, I think she's inside so you could just go in, I'll go change too but my clothes are somewhere else, hehehe I'll come get you when I'm ready ok?" Chopper says chuckling.

"alright Chopper" she smiles down at him and he sets off towards the boy's quarters, she waits until he's out of sight to enter the room, she looks around momentarily and sees no one in sight. "there isn't anyone here, should I go look for Nami-san? I'll probably get lost if I try though…maybe I should just wait for Chopper to come back"

She sits down on one of the beds and looks to the ceiling, she tries to reach out to it, but can't grasp it. She notices her hands had started pruning lightly from the bath, she smiles at it while bringing it back down on to her chest over her heart. Its steady beating had a fluttering rhythm.

"you haven't felt like this in awhile... isn't that right dear heart of mine hehehe, I really like them Ace, yet me and you both know that I can't stay, why did you send me here to help Luffy when he's doing fine? …and somehow I feel like I'm experiencing de-ja-vu"

The hand laying on her chest tightened into a fist trying to not think about the memory when suddenly the door bursts open and Nami steps into the room all dressed up. Ariel stood up from the fright still in her towel, Nami turns to see that she's not dressed, she frowns at her with puckering her lips of disapproval.

"Ariel-chan you're still not dressed? when you have my entire closet at your disposable? we're all waiting for you, you need to hurry" Nami walks towards one of the big closets in the room, while Ariel looked to her feet, very embarrassed.

"I'm not very good at choosing cloths, and I didn't want to touch anything without permission" Nami still rampaging through her closet pulls out a pair of light blue short shorts and troughs them into Ariel's face along with a pair of light pink panties and bra. Ariel pulls them off her face and gazes at the pretty cloths that she would have never dreamed of wearing…they were very short, and stylish.

"it's alright, since your clothes are drying you can wear anything you like and you don't have to ask permission on anything we're friends, right? …now here you go and put on these boots too" Nami says still facing her closet.

She tosses her last items to Ariel who catches them in her arms this time, it's a small white frilly top and some simple black heeled boots. They were very cute. Nami closes her closet and crosses her arms across her chest waiting.

"well? aren't you going to change you can't come outside with just a towel" she gives a mischievous smirk that stuns Ariel who goes beetroot red.

"right, thank you" she changes in a flash and ties her hair back, Nami grabs her under her arm and puts a hand to cover Ariel's eyes.

"now don't peek it's a surprise alright?" Ariel places her own hands over Nami's so she definitely can't peek.

"ok… but Nami-san a surprise for what?" she hears the door opening slowly, as they step outside the room, a strong burst of wind hits them both and Nami removes her hands covering her eyes, Ariel is swept away by the vision she opens her eyes too. All the straw hats are all standing together on the lawn surrounded by food, drinks, and glowing lanterns, facing her with friendly grins plastered on each of their faces, they raise their cups full of alcohol; as some drops come flying out of their cups in unison while they raise them for a toast, they shout "WELCOME ARIEL!".

Ariel stands in awe, for a moment while they giggle together at the accomplishment of putting together this feast in her honor, she quickly regains herself and gives the StrawHats her most heartfelt smile, and bows to them.

"thank you very much"

They all start to laugh and Ariel joins in as well, as she joins them and the feast begins. Luffy as usual stuffs his face of meat and other foods he can get his hands on, Nami and Robin gracefully pick out little and sit next to Ariel, Sanji brings trays over and asks what they would like, and the girls takes their pick. Chopper runs up towards Ariel with a gigantic cloud of candy floss in his paws. The floss is so big that he can't see where he's headed and trips face forward into it, regaining his composure it seems that the candy floss has stuck to his fur giving him a pink afro hairstyle, which causes everyone laugh. Brook plays one of his melodies, Ariel joins in by singing and dazes everyone with her singing voice, they all dance around apart from Zoro who sits on the side lines and listens to her sing. Usopp and Franky start their act of a fierce story telling adventure, Ariel and all the others clap their hands and enjoy the story. It was a wonderful feast, they drank and ate, sang and danced, told and listened to stories until everyone pasted out. Ariel sat down next to the border of the ship and took a small red pill and fell asleep as well. Everyone was sleeping peacefully on the lawn completely exhausted; everyone except Zoro who sat a little farther away from where Ariel had fallen asleep with Chopper on her lap, he was staring at the sky and drinking more sake, till he too fell asleep. The Sunny Go was peaceful and tranquil, being carried gently by the waves of the New World. Although it seemed for the StrawHats at least, later at 3 in the morning Ariel was shocked out of her sleep, breathing heavily, sweating, and eyes momentarily glowing red. Slowly inhaling and exhaling she starts to calm down and regains her composure, looking around she sees that Chopper was asleep on her lap, she smiles softly and slowly lays him on the grass next to her. Standing up she stretches, grasping her hands into fists to stop them from shaking.

"the effects keep diminishing" she whispered to herself. Abruptly she's frightened by a voice out of the darkness.

"what's wrong can't sleep?"

she turns around to see Zoro slowly rising to his feet and coming into the light of the moon. For some reason Ariel feels nervous and tilts her head to the side.

"something like that Zoro-san" his mood changes suddenly, he looks irritated by something she said.

"don't add 'san' to the end of my name just Zoro is fine" he turns to face anywhere but her a little irritated.

"oh ok z..o..zoro.." they meet each other's eyes but say nothing, both look very serious when Zoro breaks the ice.

"why didn't you tell Nami I was outside the bath house? I know you could sense me you said so yourself, you can sense peoples' soul's, right? so why didn't you tell her I was there?" he asks serious, yet nervous for the answer. Ariel gazes over the sea and doesn't look him in the eye.

"it might sound strange... but I felt like I knew you weren't the kind of person to peep on girls" she turns to him, shocked he turns around.

"so tell me what's the nightmare this time?" she looks surprised when he turns to look at her again that she goes beet red.

"you stayed and listened to what I told Nami-san and Chopper?" he looks embarrassed.

"will you tell me or not?" getting upset he sits back down. "if you don't want to I'm going back to sleep" he closes his eye momentarily, when he feels her sit next to him, he opens it to see that she had sat quite close, with her arms rapped around her knees and looking straight ahead; taking a deep breath she begins.

"it was the memory of my mother's death; it hasn't come in a while" Zoro feels bad for asking and decides to look straight as she does.

Pondering for a moment what he should do next. "maybe I shouldn't ask… but... …I'll ask"

"what happened?" Ariel takes another breath and buries her head in her knees as she continues.

"I was 5 years old when it happened, I was born in the royal place of Devalia. The places I told you of before. It's 60,000 meters under the sea in the deepest gorge in the world."

"you're a princess?" he asks but she shakes her head.

"I thought I was, but I wasn't the daughter of the King, I only had the Queens blood and a human's blood in me, you see I was always different all because of my red hair."

"Every demon has dark grey hair while the royal family has it silver in color, kind of like the shining stars" she points to the sky above and Zoro follows her gaze.

"I was the only one who stood out, both my mother and elder brother were the only ones that would treat me like a person and not like an abomination. The King would always hit me out of his way whenever I tried to get close to him, since I thought he was my real Father so, I didn't know why he hated me so much that even the sight of me was enough to anger him."

The wind blew past the two of them, Zoro was now focusing on Ariel completely, her head had fixed on the stars up above as she continued.

"even so, I enjoyed the little happy moments" she said smiling sadly.

"I enjoyed playing with my brother who I loved dearly with our Mother watching, it was wonderful… until one night, after I had just turned five and had a small cake shared with my Mother and my brother when I was awoken in my sleep, someone grabbed me, gagged me, and put a hood over my head, I was so scared but I couldn't scream. I remember wanting my brother and Mother to save me when I heard the water surround me, I knew that the person who was carrying me was taking me to the surface."

"is that why you don't like to swim? …you can't?" he says glancing at her, she nods her head and continues.

"it was like I was suffocating even though I had a protective bubble surrounding me, I was too afraid to notice now I fear the sea like a monster I can't defeat…"

"when we hit through the surface I found out that the person who had taken me away was my Mother, we were on the small little slave island in south blue I mentioned, she hid me in a small hole under the roots of a large tree, she removed the sack on my head and the gag, I was so relieved to see her that I gave her the last hug I would ever give her." They both swallowed.

"she told me not to be afraid and that whatever happens to her not to come out, I nodded but didn't understand the situation she kissed my forehead, the gesture would always calm me down no matter what" she touches her forehead lightly with her fingers.

"she seemed on edge, frightened, she left me there and walked just a few feet from me, she didn't look at me, instead she looked at some soldiers that had followed us as they surrounded her. I remember that I clapped my mouth shut because I didn't want to scream, they were saying something to my Mother, asking her questions about what she did with 'the monster'. She stared them down with a ferocity in her eyes that I had never seen before when she answered that she killed 'it'".

She looks down once again as if not wanting the sky to hear her say those words.

"I didn't hear anything else after that, my ears began to ring... what happened next was..." Zoro noticed she was shaking.

"they struck my Mother with their spears. One pierced her left leg and the other on her right side. I felt dizzy, there was so much blood... they...they were laughing, they were enjoying killing my Mother. Their Queen, that's when I blacked out"

Zoro places his hand behind his head scratching it, feeling terrible for asking this much of her history right off the bat.

"I'm sorry that happened…." He tried to reassure her but Ariel continued.

"it's not the worst part…. when I woke up…I" Zoro looked at her shocked, and thought to himself "what more could there be? and worse even! what's worse than that?...what happened to this women?"

"I woke up and was covered in blood, at my feet I found the soldiers…dead…brutally killed, I panicked scared that there was someone else out there, I turned to see my Mother laying against the tree I had been hiding under, but…her eyes where filled with horror, I took one step forward toward her and she flinched, she feared me? or for me? I don't know. The last thing she said to me was "I'm so sorry, your Father and I did this to you. Look for him... you have his hair...his beautiful hair" she gave me her weakest smile and then passed away with it on her face. I stood there not even wanting to get any closer, scared I might hurt her, I couldn't... cry... I just stood there and watched as she faded away, never to breathe another breath again and for what? what had I done to be dragged away from my home? I watch my Mother die from our own soldiers and I was... covered in blood so I ran, I couldn't go home... scared of swimming I was stranded. After a few days, they found me…and that's when I woke up"

She breathes a sigh of relief when she's done and turns to Zoro who gets shocked, her eyes are full of tears at the brim about to fall. "oh shit! I really shouldn't have asked"

"…wait… don't…" he tries to comfort her, something he's never done before, but she shakes her head and smiles putting a hand on his shoulder.

" this is the first time I've properly cried about my Mother's passing, I always put my tears on hold when I need to shed them the most, I hope that you trust me more now, I could sense that you were uneasy about me so I told you a part of my past…it feels like a chain has been broken and I can move a little more freely through my emotions… thank you…Zor..o" she collapses onto his shoulder startling him. Ariel had fallen asleep again due to the effects of her medication.

He sighs out of relief, he had made her cry but she was ok with it and now had fallen asleep on his shoulder. "*sigh* she is one strange women…with one hell of a past…she cries and then falls asleep on my shoulder…now where am I going to put her? it's getting cold and the wind is picking up" he looks around as blasts of wind past them. All the other StrawHats are covered with their own blankets, Nami and Robin had gone into their room, and Chopper had his fur.

"seriously such a pain... I can't put her in the girl's room cos Nami would kill me, not in the guy's quarters either…or in the common room the water might freak her out" he scratches his head with his free hand while the other props Ariel up off his shoulder. When suddenly an idea crosses his mind and he looks up.

"the crow's nest should do" he picks her up and carries her up into the room, slowly placing her on the couch closest to the balcony doors. He removes his hands after placing her, but as he turns away he realizes he can't move forward, he turns to see that she had caught hold of his coat with one hand. Clutching her own with her other hand, he rolls his eyes, and tries furiously to get out of her grip with no success. Tired he gives up and scratches his head frustrated.

"seriously this woman is such a pain…*sigh*" he sits down in front of her, placing one of his elbows on the window sill to prop up his head as he looked at her sleep for a while. Ariel mumbles something while she tosses a little, and snuggles onto Zoro's lap, he blushes a little at her movements. He is only able to make up one letter from her ramblings.

"...mm…L..." Puzzled he wondered what L could mean, but he chose to let it be.

"honestly…this is going to be such a pain in the morning…. What an interesting woman she is" he says and slowly dozes off, finally in a long-time Ariel manages to get a peaceful nights' rest without any more nightmares.


	7. Arrival at Punk Hazard Chapter 7

The sunlight shone through the many windows that surrounded the crow's nest, it felt nice and warm on Ariel's face, her pillow seemed so comfortable and smelled so good. Slowly opening her eyes, she finds Zoro's face right above her own, turning scarlet, and in a quick movement she is free from her position on his lap and has backed away to the other side on the room, as Zoro slowly wakes up he notices that she's on the other side of the room, face completely flustered; he starts to panic and rises to his feet.

"it's...not…what… it…you…fell asleep...and wouldn't let go so..." He tries to explain himself one word at a time.

"oh right…it's…ok…I understand." They both divert their gazes.

Abruptly they're both frightened when they hear voices.

"Ariel-chan where are you?" They stare at each other for a moment, then moving quickly Ariel flung open the doors of the balcony and walked out to the edge to see Nami and Chopper looking for her and calling out her name, Zoro follows behind her.

"Nami-san, Chopper! I'm up here" Ariel says waving.

"ahh Ariel good morning" Chopper says bouncing with happiness.

"Ariel-chan what are you doing up there with Zoro?" Nami asked; both Ariel and Zoro swallowed hard. They needed an excuse, luckily Ariel was quick to reply.

"ahh that's because he was the only one awake, so I asked him to take me on a tour of the ship" she replied smiling weakly.

"really Zoro?... a tour… he gets lost even with clear directions" Nami says with an exasperated look. Zoro, now irritated appears at the edge next to Ariel.

"SHUT UP Nami! I don't get lost, you're the ones who always get lost"

"yeah, whatever you couldn't even find your own way to the kitchen once" Nami says and then tries to ignore him.

"why you!" Zoro begins to boil, Nami sticks her tongue out at him. Ariel looks from one to the other, until Chopper interrupts the two arguing.

"Ariel wanna come have some breakfast? everyone's already eating we have to hurry"

"yeah before Luffy eats everything!" Nami says exasperated once more at the thought, Ariel smiles.

"alright I'll be right there" she backs away from the edge, and locks eyes with Zoro again.

"thank…you. For staying next to me…I didn't have any other nightmares"

Zoro blushes. Looking away he walks toward the door.

"no problem…now let's head down for breakfast."

She doesn't move to follow him so he turns to see what's wrong just in time to see her jump off the edge "ooii!….ehh?!" he runs to see if she's ok. She landed perfectly in between Nami and Chopper who are left amazed, he breathes a sigh of relief and heads for the stairs. "stupid woman doing something like that…cheh…what do I care".

The three of them start heading to the kitchen, when Nami suddenly comes to a halt. Ariel and Chopper turn to her to see what was wrong.

"Nami-san is everything alright? Why did you stop?" Ariel asked tilting her head to the side like she normally did.

"the air pressure..."

"air pressure?... What about I..t.!" Realizing it as well, both Ariel and Nami's expressions grew dark. Nami ran to the kitchen, Ariel followed picking Chopper up in her arms. Nami opened the door to the kitchen violently surprising the members inside.

"the air pressure has suddenly dropped we're heading into a big storm! everyone get ready to help out!"

All the members then got up from the table and headed out at Nami's orders, Ariel had just caught up when she saw Nami barking orders at the others with precision, Ariel looked at her in awe.

"Nami-san is amazing, she felt the pressure change even before I did" she said while turning to Chopper who she still had in her arms.

"yeah she is! Nami is the best navigator there is! and she's become stronger these past two years" he said proudly.

"mm! I can tell!" Ariel nodded in agreement.

Suddenly Zoro joined them from behind, confused at what was going on.

"ooii what's going on? did everyone piss Nami off or something?"

"oh Zoro-sa...Zoro Nami-san is amazing she noticed the air pressure change before I did, and predicted that we're heading towards a pretty bad storm, so everyone is helping out. We should go too right Chopper?"

"right!" He jumped out of Ariel's arms and went running towards Nami and suddenly transformed into a larger form. Ariel then turned to Zoro with a smile.

"you're coming too, right?"

Suddenly they heard Nami's voice calling them.

" Zoro! you stupid moss head hurry up and hold the sails steady! Ariel-chan, I need you to be my second sense come here please" Ariel giggled as she noticed Zoro's face turn sour with irritation at being called moss head. They both headed to their posts. In an instant, the storm appeared and hit them head on with an incredible force, the waves were huge, crashing and dangerous, streaks of lightening crossed the dark sky that engulfed the Sunny Go.

Everyone was at their stations listening to Nami's orders, Ariel stood next to her with her eyes closed concentrating, on finding a way through the storm, suddenly her eyes flew open and she turned to the west, and focused immensely in that direction.

"Nami-san! I sense that there is something really strong that way!" Nami glanced at her new wrist compass that Jimbe gave her after they defeated Hordy Jones, in fish man island, and saw the three needles going crazy, but none were pointing in the direction Ariel was indicating.

"the compass isn't pointing to anything in that direction are you sure Ariel-chan?!" Ariel nodded.

Soon an island was in site, however it was surrounded by even more menacing lightning and an ominous glow surrounded it.

"I'm sure, Nami-san there's a strong concentration over there! however, the island also feels dangerous"

At the mention of the word dangerous Luffy's ears pricked with interest as he slowly stretched his head and rapped it all around Nami to get a look at the compass.

"waaa! Let's go to that island, it sounds like fun! Shishishi!"

"are you stupid? We're trying to avoid the most dangerous islands that's why we have different options!" Nami shouted as she pointed to the other needles on the compass.

"eh but Ariel said it's the closest to us? right Ariel ?" Luffy made a good point, and looked to Ariel for confirmation.

"ah...eh... Yes, it is" with a wary smile as she could see Nami, Chopper, Usopp and Brook shake their arms frantically disapproving the thought. They all gave in as Ariel told him the truth.

"shishishi then this is an order, head for the closest island!" Luffy thrust his fists in the air.

"sigh why does he have to drag all of us with him on his crazy adventures" Nami face palmed herself, giving up.

" I'm..n..not scared...at...all...I..m ...a brave...warrior...of..the sea.., ah! I just caught the don't go to the scary, dangerous island that Ariel pointed out disease I might die if we go that way" Usopp said muttering.

"waaa! it's going to be scary" exclaimed Chopper as he hid behind Ariel's leg.

"indeed Chopper-san very scary!" said also Brook quivering behind Ariel.

"waa Nami-swwann you're so amazing at being a navigator, and Ariel-chuuwwann! You' re so cool!" Sanji said not the least bit concerned at the challenges ahead.

"pipe down you ero cook... this island sounds interesting" Zoro smiled with great interest.

"how amusing" Robin giggled away quite amused.

"Suuurrper! Let's go! the Sunny Go can handle anything!" says Franky in his signature pose.

Ariel looked at them with a caring smile, they all were so brave and cared for one another so much it was endearing, as Nami instructed Franky to turn west, Ariel faced the direction with a serious face.

"there's so much sadness in that direction, and an ominous power too... I wonder what sort of thing could be responsible for that... This island also looks familiar…like I've seen of it before…something familiar, but I can't put my finger on it". Ariel kept her full attention on the island, trying to figure out what was so familiar about it.

As the Sunny Go shot through the sky they all suddenly saw a sea of fire surrounding the island. They all looked at the island drenched in lava with both stones and the ground burning.

"a red sea?" Robin stated.

"hiiii! the sea is on fire! what kind of crazy island is this!" Usopp started to freak out.

"shishishi look a volcano erupted! that looks fun!" Luffy giggled away happily.

"I knew it, the log pose's needles don't even point to that island." Nami said worriedly, Ariel glanced over her shoulder to get a look at the log pose as well.

"let's go to that island come on!" Luffy declared once more.

"I'm telling you to wait!" Nami hissed angrily at him, but Luffy wasn't having it.

"But we decided to go, there are volcanos too! Volcanoes Nami! don't they look fun?".

"Like I said before, the needles don't point to that island which means it's an anomaly, normally you wouldn't go to an abnormal place wouldn't you?"

Another volcano erupted, Ariel looked to the island and focused once again.

"Nami-san its true the needles of your compass don't point to that island but I definitely feel something there... it is worth a look"

"see? another eruption?! we're dropping anchor no matter what you say shishishi" Luffy states happily as he leans over the side of the ship to get a look at the melting island.

"I don't get you at all! we can't get any closer if you haven't notices it's a sea of fire!" Nami yells exasperated at Luffy's antics.

Sanji then dropped a giant shellfish; which they had gotten from Panz Fry on to the deck. "since its a sea of fire it would be a waste not to take this chance to cook this in it" he says placing he foot on top of the large shell.

"how can you be so calm Sanji?!" Chopper exclaims frantically.

suddenly the wind began to blow sparks towards the ship, as the rough sea continues to rock them.

"the fire, It's getting closer" Robin states calmly, "won't it be a matter of time before the Sunny Go gets burnt?" Usopp says worriedly.

"No way, the Sunny Go is Suuuper! fire proof" Franky bellows as he handles the steering.

"even if it doesn't burn, there is definitely something wrong with this sea! the fish are nothing but bones! look see!" Nami says complaining.

"eh? did you call me?" Brook says in an effort to be amusing. Nami sighs, Ariel giggles.

"Nami-san is right though, we should be very careful around here, this place is weird and not the normal weird of the New world…" Ariel states, causing everyone to now be on alert when unexpectedly a loud voice rings out through their silence.

There's a sound of crying coming from the Den Den Mushi inside the dining room area. Everyone rushes inside to see what's going on.

"hey why is the Den Den Mushi crying?" Luffy asks approaching the crying snail phone. "hey what's wrong does your stomach hurt?" he asks the snail.

"Idiot, it's an emergency signal." Sanji states standing behind him.

"someone is calling for help" Ariel stared at the phone with a questionable look.

"So, if I pick up the phone we can talk to them?" Luffy asks.

"wait Luffy!" Robin interjects "less than 50% of emergency signals are real!" everyone turns towards her as she continues "the Navy uses theses as traps all the time, it could be like that now! if we pick up they'll know where we are!"

"good point Robin! listen Luffy we should think this through before…we..." it was too late, before Usopp could finish his sentence Luffy had picked up the phone.

"Hello! I'm Straw Hat Luffy, I'm going to be the Pirate King" he yells into the transmitter, Usopp slaps him across the head. "you picked it up way too early!"

The voice on the Den Den Mushi began wailing again, "AHHH! please help me!" Luffy and Usopp had crowded around the phone.

"what's wrong?"

"its freezing… is that you Boss?" the voice asks blubbering.

"no I'm not your Boss.. its freezing?" Luffy responds. The others stand by the door way listening as the trembling voice on the other side continues.

"my friends keep getting cut down, the samurai is going to kill us all!" Ariel felt Brook's and Zoro's QI spike a little, at the mention of a samurai the both looked more interested.

"Hey you! who are you? where are you?" Luffy asks frantically.

"it's doesn't matter who I am just save me!… I'm on... Punk Hazard!" the voice yells in reply, suddenly the voice screams in agony as the sound of a sword strikes him and the line goes dead.

"IIIYYYAAAAHHH!" both Usopp and Chopper scream in fright, "He was k...killed!".

"is this?" Brook exclaimed, Zoro looked at him questioningly, Ariel's gaze fell away from the phone and began searching her memories for any clue to where the word Punk Hazard had appeared. Luffy placed the mouthpiece down on the receiver, and brought his hand to his chin "I suspect foul play" he states as if he were a detective.

"of course its foul play! He was just murdered!" Usopp yells at him still frightened with Chopper in tow "Ahhh the New world is scary! Scary!"

"he could have been acting it might still be a trap?" Robin say as always keeping a cool head. Brook slides in emphasizing her composure with a little tune.

"He said samurai, Brook." Zoro mentions, Brook stops playing his shark guitar and puts on an air of seriousness, "yes…it must be one of those samurais, the ones from the Wano Kingdom, it's an isolated nation that doesn't let outsiders enter. It doesn't even have ties to the World Government. They say that these swordsmen called samurai are so strong, even the Navy won't go near them."

Zoro slides his hand to his sword Shuusui's handle as if impatient, remembering how it had gotten into his possession back on Thriller Bark when he had fought Gekko Moriah's samurai henchman.

"a kingdom like that exists?" Usopp asks breaking Zoro free from his thoughts.

"But he said he was in Punk Hazard not the Wano Kingdom" Franky added "did he mean that fire island?" Luffy suddenly turns to Ariel, she notices his gaze and speaks up, "the name Punk Hazard, I think I heard of it but I'm not sure I remember about what it looked like, either way I'm sure of two things. First that person didn't seem like he was acting it was too real, and second I know there are people on that island. I can't tell how many exactly or who they are but he could be one of them."

"If he was using a Den Den Mushi, then that island is the only one in range." Robin added, trying to be supportive.

"I think we stumbled on this frequency due to our range" Ariel added.

"Alright! Let's go save that guy!" Luffy exclaims.

"NO!" Nami, Chopper Usopp and Brook yell in protest. But it was too late no amount of sane words would change Luffy's mind, and so on they went towards the flaming sea. Ariel looked towards the island once again.

"that's strange, the people I feel…argh with this heat I can't concentrate at all…".

Meanwhile near the Lightning island a Navy ship appears riding the waves with a giant G-5 written across the front sail, the conversation Luffy and the stranger had was being replayed on board the ship.

"Smoker-san…wasn't that...?" it was Tashigi who said this, now a Navy Captain.

"did he say Punk Hazard?... damn, what route did they take?!" Smoker said upset he now was a Vice-Admiral. "first the incident on Fishman Island, then another uproar after that... if I calculate their route from that point…it should be… Punk Hazard it makes the most sense" he adds.

behind him came the painful crying of a pirate and the laughter of the sailors.

"stop torturing the pirate!" Tashigi yells at her subordinates. "Tashigi we're headed to Punk Hazard!" Smoker orders.

"but...! Punk Hazard has been uninhabited since it was sealed off after the incident 4 years ago!..." Tashigi adds, "it's strange people shouldn't be there!".

"it is true, there shouldn't been any single creature alive on that island, but it's worth a look" Smoker replies, "we're setting sail for Punk Hazard!" he exclaims to his crew.

"eh but Vice-Admiral Smoker-san, that place is forbidden? didn't ya know?" one of his member comments to which Smoker replies in a booming voice.

"Don't talk to me about rules, you scum!" his crew responds with an unaffected and flat "yes sir".

The closer the Sunny Go got to the Flaming waters the more Ariel felt dizzy, she couldn't handle to much heat, she preferred the cold.

"Ariel? are you alright? Chopper asked worried, Ariel sat down on the lawn and placed a hand on his fluffy hat. "yes I'm ok, it's just I don't like the heat too much, it makes it hard for me to concentrate on watching my surrounding so I get a little dizzy" she replies smiling.

"So who's going on the Island?" Sanji says gaining everyone's attention. "since we have doubts about what we heard on the Den Den Mushi we shouldn't all leave the ship."

"Franky send out the Mini Merry!" Luffy ordered.

"Sure thing!" Franky replied giving a thumbs up.

"wait a sec! you're planning on going by yourself?!' Name complained.

"what you got a problem with that?" Luffy asked nonchalantly.

"of course! we don't know what you'll run off and do if we leave you alone!"

"ahh? huh?" Luffy complains. "Alright then we need someone other than the little lost swords here to accompany him." Sanji proposes.

Zoro immediately gets in his face for the comment "and what's that supposed to mean?! I'm going to slice you up, ero cook!" he yells and the usual spout between the two commences as a spark runs between them.

"accompany Luffy? count me in!" Franky speaks up diverting the conversation away from Zoro and Sanji.

"It sounds fun" Robin adds happily, while Brook, Usopp and Chopper cower in fear. "is it ok if you count us out for this one?" Usopp asks while trembling.

"why don't we all draw straws? That would make it easy to decide fairly" Ariel says speaking up.

"there is no helping it then, let's use Ariel-chan's idea" Nami gathers 9 strips of paper and holds them out to the rest of the group.

"no complaints, right?"

Zoro however, is the first to complain "what a pain I'm going even if I draw a miss."

"Zoro if I win switch places with me!" Chopper says upset, Ariel pats him on the head as she gets to her feet.

"I'll go for you Chopper if you win, so don't worry too much" Ariel says as she picks a strip of paper as the others have.

"they say the last one has the best luck" Usopp says as he rubs his hands together and grabs a hold of the last strip. "I put all the luck of my entire life on this straw!" he yells as he pulls it free. Unfortunately, its end is red which per his face states that he lost.

"that settles it the ones who will go are.." Sanji says while holding a white sheet.

"Us" Zoro says with Robin giggling beside him, "how exciting" she says while Usopp stands next to her dejected.

"ohhhh you won? lucky you!" Sanji says to Usopp.

"no way! I lost! someone switch with me!" he yells, Ariel weakly tries to trade with him.

"Umm Usopp-san…if you want I can…" Sanji stops her before she can finish.

"Don't worry about him Ariel-chwan he lost fair and square, besides you don't look so good." he says placing a worried hand on her shoulder.

"I guess so…heat doesn't agree with me, it makes me feel dizzy" she says smiling weakly back.

"see! so don't worry about it, besides if you stay here I can take good care of…y" suddenly a swords hilt met Sanji's face before he could finish his sentence. Ariel turned around to see an uninterested Zoro looking in the opposite direction, when Sanji left Ariel's side to go and torment him for the hit he received, causing everyone to laugh except Usopp who still feared his fate.

"Here have my special giant shellfish bento" Sanji holds out a neatly packed lunch box wrapped in a handkerchief.

"ohhooo can't wait to taste it!" Luffy exclaims happily.

meanwhile Nami began twirling her batons near the side of the ship, as soon as she said " _Milky Road_ " a white cloudy foam came out of one end and went over the side of the ship creating a sort of cloudy bridge over the flames.

"ohhhhh!" Luffy and Franky exclaimed in awe.

"wow Nami-san that looks so cool!" Ariel states while looking at the deed with fascination. "wow! It's a cloud road! you've learned how to make this stuff that they used on Sky Island?" Luffy asks impressed.

"hehe, their just clouds, so you'd better cross while their still stable." Nami replies with a satisfied grin.

The scouting group going ashore all climb into the Mini Merry and set off on the cloud bridge that Nami made.

"Alright here we go! Mini Merry we're counting on you!" Luffy exclaims with his mouth full of his packed lunch.

"good luck you guys" Chopper yells waving at them, "hang in there all of you."

"you're so lucky going a shore" Franky states. "we'll go later so don't worry" Sanji replies.

"yohohoho take care!" Brook says laughing.

"Usopp fight on!" Nami calls to him teasingly, while Usopp shrills in return "trade places with me!".


End file.
